In an electronic device, such as a digital camera or a portable music player, a memory card is used. In recent years, the memory card is also used in some mobile phones. In order to enable the use of the memory card, the electronic device has a memory card connector mounted therein. The memory card connector is covered by a protective cover. When the memory card is inserted into or removed from the memory card connector, the protective cover is opened.
The electronic device of this type having the protective cover is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2003-218549. Referring to FIG. 1, the electronic device will briefly be described.
The electronic device includes an upper case 1, a lower case 2, and a protective cover 5. In a space between the upper case 1 and the lower case 2, a panel 3 is provided and a memory card connector (not shown) is mounted on the panel 3. A memory card (not shown) can be inserted into or removed from the memory card connector.
The protective cover 5 has a rectangular shape in plan view and a generally L shape in section. The protective cover 5 has insertion ribs 51 formed on both ends of a long side edge and generally L-shaped hooks 54 formed in the vicinity of both ends of short side edges.
The upper case 1 has hook receivers 14 formed inside one long side in correspondence to the hooks 54 of the protective cover 5, respectively. Between the hooks 54 and an inner upper end of the lower case 2, a space S is formed.
When the protective cover 5 is opened, an operation is performed as follows. First, a concave portion (not shown) formed on a right side surface of the protective cover 5 in FIG. 1 is pulled up by a finger. Consequently, the hooks 54 are disengaged from the hooks 14 of the upper case 1, respectively, and elastically deformed leftwards within a range of the space S. Subsequently, the protective cover 5 is rotated around the insertion ribs 51 in a direction shown by an arrow. Accordingly, the protective cover 5 is opened, so that the memory card can be inserted into or removed from the memory card connector on the panel 3.
In the above-mentioned electronic device, the hooks 54 of the protective cover 5 are elastically deformed in a direction perpendicular to a rotation center line (a line connecting the both insertion ribs 51) of the protective cover 5, so that the protective cover 5 is easy to be unintentionally opened from the upper case 1 when touched by hand.
In order to prevent the protective cover 5 from being unintentionally opened from the upper case 1, it is inevitable to deepen a depth of engagement between the hooks 54 of the protective cover 5 and the hooks 14 of the upper case 1. In this event, the space S in FIG. 7 must be widened so that the upper case 1 and the lower case 2 are increased in size in a left-to-right [transversal] direction in FIG. 7. Thus, the electronic device itself is increased in size.